


Where You Belong

by LadyWallace



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cas is family, Cas is mind whammied, Cas needs a hug and he gets one, Episode s12e19 coda, Fix-It, Gen, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Season 12 codas and tags, Supernatural Episode "The Future" Coda, Team Free Will, The Boys go after Cas instantly, coerced Cas, family/friendship feels, mind control Cas, sam and dean to the rescue, the nephillim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 05:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11662971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyWallace/pseuds/LadyWallace
Summary: Coda to 12x19 Sam and Dean track down Cas and Kelly Kline and find that Cas is being controlled by the nephillim. Can they break him out of it and bring him home or is it too late to save their angel this time? H/C fix-it fic. Lots of TWF family feels (no slash)





	Where You Belong

Dean gunned the Impala down the highway, hands tight on the wheel as he cast glances over toward Sam who was fiddling with his tablet and phone, trying to track Cas down.

"I can't believe we let this happen," Dean growled. "I knew this whole thing was gonna go to hell."

"Dean, we didn't really have a choice, I mean, Cas kinda knocked us unconscious," Sam countered.

"Yeah, but I should have seen it coming." Dean shook his head, haunted once again by the vacant look in his best friend's eyes. A look he hadn't seen since Cas had been 'reeducated' by Naomi and beat the crap out of him so he could run off with the angel tablet. The similarity to that at the sandbox, had brought back a slew of bad memories for Dean, and he had a sick pit in his stomach that was only getting worse the longer it took Sam to track the angel and the runaway mother-to-be down.

"Well, the best thing we can do now is just concentrate on finding Cas and Kelly," Sam said in an annoyingly calm voice that Dean was also kinda thankful for. He took a deep breath, trying to get his head clear so he could think.

"Hey, I think I got him," Sam said, relief clear in his voice. "Um…we're heading in the wrong direction."

Without another word, Dean slammed on the breaks and executed a 180, spinning the Impala around on the empty highway. Sam cleared his throat pointedly, clutching the door and the dash. "Yeah, okay, we're heading the right way now."

As Sam gave Dean directions, he checked the time on the dash. They had been out for hours already, it was early morning, and they still had at least an hour and a half of driving to do—okay, make that an hour if the roads stayed this empty. Dean wasn't exactly worried about keeping the speed limits.

"Dean…we need to talk about how we're going to handle this," Sam said after a while, his voice slightly hesitant in the way it always was when he said things he knew Dean wouldn't like.

"What do you mean? We grab Cas and run, simple as."

"We may not be able to," Sam protested. "You saw Cas, he just went off of his own volition—or, that's what it looked like. I mean, he wasn't fighting. And you saw what he did to Dagon. If the nephallim has chosen him to be its…protector or whatever, then do you really think its gonna just let Cas go with us? It might not be a good idea to get it angry."

"What choice do we have? I'm not gonna let Cas be a puppet again for someone else's gain," Dean shouted, clenching the wheel tighter. "You've seen him, man, after Lucifer, after everything we've been through the past few months, he is at the end of his rope. Like I said before, he's desperate for any win he can get right now, but I don't believe for a second that he would choose to be brainwashed again. Ever. He was adamant about doing this himself—and yeah, the idiot still hasn't gotten into his head that fixing your mistakes doesn't mean you have to go it alone—but I know he would never choose this on purpose, not if he was in his right mind."

Sam nodded in agreement. "I know, I agree. But Dean, if the nephallim forces him to hurt us in any way, if we put him into a position where it might feel threatened, think about what that would do to Cas."

"So you're saying we just leave him?" Dean demanded.

Sam shook his head angrily. "No, man, I'm just saying that we need to take precautions. Maybe talk to Kelly. Just not go in there all guns blazing."

Dean focused on the road ahead. "I don't think Kelly is gonna have much say in the matter," he said grimly. "You saw her, drinking the same coolaid the nephallim gave Cas." He tightened his jaw, wondering if he should share his worst fear or not, and finally decided just to go for it in case things did turn out to be the worst case scenario. "Have you thought of all the implications here?" he asked Sam quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this is Lucifer's kid," Dean replied, glancing at his brother out of the corner of his eye and seeing him stiffen almost imperceptivity. "What if he can, I don't know, connect with it. He's the king of mindgames after all."

"And he's in the Cage, he shouldn't be able to connect with anything," Sam said firmly.

"Yeah, but he still sent you visions from there," Dean protested.

"That was when the Cage was damaged," Sam replied.

"Still, I don't think we can rule out that option," Dean cut in.

Sam was silent for a long time but Dean could tell he was considering the Lucifer thing as a plausible possibility. Dean hoped like hell it wasn't true, but they never did get a break, after all.

"We'll still get him back," Sam assured him after a long silence. "No matter what."

Dean nodded but didn't reply. He just stared at the road ahead, tearing up the miles to go save their idiot angel once again, this time hopefully to bring him home for good.

~~~~~~~

Castiel sat in the chair, glancing from the manacle on his wrist to Kelly who was sitting on the couch several yards away. He tugged the chain experimentally, but it was no use. It was sigiled, but even if he were able to get it off he wouldn't get as far as the door—he had already tried. The nephallim would not allow him to leave.

He remembered Kelly's face when she had locked the chain around his wrist, and held a hand over it as her eyes turned gold with the nephillim's power while sigils burned themselves into the metal, effectively keeping him in the chair. She had looked so apologetic, he couldn't truly blame her. He knew now she wasn't acting on her own.

"I'm sorry," she had whispered, and he could see she truly was, though there was also determination on her face. "But I can't risk you leaving. You have to protect us."

Castiel closed his eyes as he remembered the feeling of the nephillim's power surging through him. Even when he had all his grace, he had never felt so powerful, so sure of himself and everything around him. It had awed him, perhaps it had made him give in more easily—of course, he wasn't sure he would have been able to stop the influence even if he had wanted to. Not then. Since they had gotten to the house, to safety, the hold the nephillim had over him had dissipated to only a small niggling at the back of his mind, like something he could just barely remember. But he knew that it would surge in and take over fully again if he made any small move of defiance.

Not that he thought the unborn child malicious by any means, no, he did truly believe it was simply protecting itself, but he still feared what would happen when the baby was born. Would it take control of him completely then? Use him to do things to help create the future it wanted? And the future…oh, it seemed wonderful, peaceful, so pure, but Castiel knew in his heart that there could be so much wrong with it. That nothing was ever as good as it seemed.

But even more worrying to him right now was the state he had left Sam and Dean in. Not only had he betrayed them—again—but he had left them vulnerable out in the open like that, where any demons who might have been following Dagon could find them, or angels, which would probably be just as bad. If he had been in his right mind at the time, he never would have left them like that. He would have taken Sam's suggestion, convinced Kelly to go with them back to the bunker where they would be safe and they could figure out how to best prepare for the nephillim's birth there. But he hadn't had the choice. He had allowed himself to be controlled, just like he had so many times before in the past. By Zachariah, by Naomi, by Lucifer—he didn't want this to happen again.

An insistent pressure prodded his mind and when he tried to shut it out, it only pressed in further, making him squeeze his eyes shut with a wince as a dull ache started behind them.

"Castiel?"

He looked up to see Kelly watching him, stroking her belly, and the pressure stopped. "What?" he asked more harshly than he had meant to.

She was silent for a long minute before she said, "I don't want you to feel like a captive."

He gave her a wry look as he rattled the manacle. "Well, I am chained to a chair."

"I know you're the best person to watch over us, over my baby." She continued, and cradled her stomach again. "He's telling me…that it will be easier if you just give in."

Give in. No, that was something he would not do. Castiel shook his head. "Kelly, I will not be forced into this. I would have protected you, I…"

"You were going to kill us," Kelly said, slightly sharp. "And I understand, I do, but I can't…I can't take the chance that you'll go back on your word, and try again. And he won't let you, either. I'm sorry, Castiel, but…I will do everything I have to to protect this baby. Even if I don't like it."

"Kelly," Castiel tried again but it was no use reasoning with her. He didn't think she could stop it. He winced again as the pressure intensified, and a sharp pain lanced behind his eyes. "Kelly, please," he grit out.

"I can't stop him, Castiel," she told him softly. "And…I'm not going to. I'm sorry."

Castiel squeezed his eyes shut, tugging at the chain before he felt himself slipping away again, his consciousness being shoved into some far corner of his brain no matter how much he scrambled to keep control. The pain intensified until he had no choice but to let himself be pushed back, and then he felt that strange calm again, the wrongness of it. And then, all he could see was the promised future again and he let himself go.

~~~~~~~

"Is this the place?" Dean looked up incredulously at the dilapidated old house that Sam's tracking app had led them to. He shut off the Impala, hoping no one had heard their approach.

"Yeah, I think so; the signal shows we're right of top of Cas' location," Sam said, showing him the tablet.

Dean saw he was right and reached for the door handle. "Okay then, I guess this is show time."

Sam followed him, but caught his arm as Dean went toward the trunk.

"What's the plan, Dean?" he asked, meeting his older brother's eyes.

Dean hesitated for a long time, mulling it over in his head. Finally, he tucked the keys into his pocket and heaved a resigned sigh, closing his eyes.

"Let's go in and talk," he said. Sam was right, he realized. If they went in there with weapons the nephillim might take that as a sign of threat and then…well, Dean wanted to save his friend, not end up getting obliterated by him. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

Sam nodded and they crossed the lawn in the shadows. Dean just hoped they were making the right decision.

~~~~~~~

Castiel heard something that registered as familiar in the back of his mind, a low rumble that cut off abruptly. He could not truly place it, but it made him think of comfort and home, which was odd, because he didn't truly have a home anymore.

He strained to figure out what it might be, but his consciousness was slammed back down by the nephillim's control over him and he stilled. Maybe if he seemed uninterested the hold would lessen.

He heard Kelly gasp and turned to see her getting up from the couch and moving over to the window, looking out. She then hurried over to Castiel as fast as she could and touched the manacle. Her eyes glowed and it snapped open. Castiel still didn't move because he was not asked to.

"Castiel, we have to go," she said urgently. "We can't let them find us. He doesn't want them to find us."

Castiel was on his feet before he knew what was happening. Who was there? Who wasn't supposed to find them? Dagon? No she was dead. Other demons, then? Maybe the angels? They could have felt the nephillim's surge of power again and followed it. Tracked them here.

But when the door to the house was opened, causing Kelly to gasp in shock and not without some fear, Castiel saw his assumptions had been wrong.

Because it wasn't demons or angels who stood there.

No. It was just his family.

The Winchesters.

~~~~~~~

Dean and Sam stopped short as they entered the house, staring at the scene in front of them. Cas stood there with Kelly slightly behind him, her hand gripping his arm tightly as if in the process of pulling him away. Cas just stood still, almost as if he were unable to move and Dean thought he saw a flicker of something on his face. Maybe frustration, maybe desperation, he wasn't sure, but if he needed any more proof that Cas was being brainwashed, that was it.

"Cas?" Sam asked quietly, taking a step forward.

"Sam, Dean," Cas said, his voice low. "You need to go."

Dean shook his head, stepping forward as well. "Cas, no, we know what happened. We know the nephillim is controlling you. We're here to help you."

"Castiel, you cannot let him take us," Kelly pleaded and Dean shot her a look that made her shrink back. "Please. Just leave."

"We're not leaving without our brother," Dean told her firmly. Cas seemed to respond to that, eyes brightened slightly, but it was shortly followed by a wince. Dean swallowed hard. "Cas is family and I'm not gonna let Lucifer's child use him as a puppet."

"Look, Kelly," Sam said gently, holding his hands out. "We can all protect you and your baby, we just need you to trust us, let us take you somewhere safe."

"You want to take his powers away," Kelly said, shaking her head. "I won't let you do that."

"Kelly, that is Lucifer's child," Dean said firmly, yet trying to keep his voice reasonable. "You have no idea what you're dealing with here, do you understand?"

"I understand enough," she said, her voice shuddering. "And I'm sorry, but I can't let you take my baby from me. He's not going to let you take us." Her eyes started to glow yellow and the glow traveled through her hand where it clutched Cas' arm to the angel's eyes.

"Dammit, Kelly, don't!" Dean shouted, stepping forward even though he had no idea what good it would do. Kelly probably couldn't control the thing anyway. Still, he couldn't just watch his best friend and surrogate brother be someone's zombie again.

"Dean!" Sam warned just as Cas raised his hand and Dean as flung backwards through the open door, landing on his back with a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him. Sam was out the door and crouching at his side in an instant, turning to look over his shoulder as Cas came out.

"Leave," the angel said, his voice void of any emotion.

"Cas, fight this," Dean grunted as he forced himself upright. "You gotta shake that thing's power off. I know you don't want this. Fight!"

Cas took a step down off the porch. Kelly was hanging back by the door, watching with wide eyes.

"Cas," Sam said rising to his feet again. "We just want to take you home. Come on, help us get Kelly and the baby to a safe place."

"They're only safe with me," Cas said firmly, his voice still flat. "It's my job to protect them."

Dean shook his head. "No, it isn't. Cas, man, come on. This isn't you. We're doing this together, remember? Team Free Will."

"Castiel—" Kelly gasped, but her voice seemed choked off as her eyes went gold again and Castiel's did the same. He stopped. Then reached into his coat for his angel blade, pulling it out and holding it in front of him, ready.

"Leave," he said. "I wont tell you again."

Dean held up a hand. "Cas, we're not leaving without you and we'd like to take Kelly and the baby to safety too. Let's just talk about this."

Instead of talking though, Cas just advanced on them with a determined look. Sam and Dean stepped backwards in shock as Cas raised the angel blade.

~~~~~~~

He couldn't stop it. Castiel was screaming at the thing in his head, but it wasn't heeding him at all. The nephillim had decided that Sam and Dean were the enemy, afraid that they still meant to take its power. Castiel tried to reason with it, insist that they only wanted to help, but his blade was now in his hand and he was advancing on his friends, his family, about to kill them. He could not, would not, do this. He had to gain control somehow.

But every time he tried, the nephillim just seemed to pull him back more roughly, shove him back into the corner of his mind, while his body simply advanced on the Winchesters, his own blade held at the ready.

~~~~~~~

"Cas!" Dean cried, holding up his hands. "Don't do this! Fight it!"

Cas staggered briefly, but his eyes were still glowing and he continued on with a determined look.

"Dean," Sam said, grabbing his brother's sleeve.

"Wait," Dean hissed at him, pulling away before focusing on Cas again. "Cas, I know you're in there and I bet you can hear me, so listen. Just let it go. Fight this, and come home. We're your family, remember? Come home with us."

Cas stopped, finally. His body jerked and a wave of pain washed over his face, shuddering through his body, before it was replaced by the blank look again, as he took several more steps forward.

"Cas," Sam picked up where Dean had left off. "You can break the hold, I know you can—you fought off Lucifer's control! Just concentrate. Keep fighting it!"

Cas staggered to a stop again, his body hunching slightly. A cross between a growl and a groan sounded from his throat. Dean watched hopefully.

"Come on, Cas," he pleaded, holding his hands out. "You can do it. Take control."

Cas gasped, body almost seizing, as his eyes squeezed shut. He clenched his fists, teeth grinding together, before his eyes suddenly flew open and Dean saw they were blue once again, not gold. He flung the blade several feet away.

"Stop," he ground out and then screamed in pain and collapsed to his knees, trembling.

Dean heard Kelly cry out too, and looked up to see her disappear into thin air. He didn't have time to think about that though, because he had his friend to take care of.

"Cas," he called, hurrying the last few steps toward the angel and crouching down in front of him. He cautiously put a hand on his shoulder, feeling the trembling currents that wracked Cas' body. Sam crouched next to him and they shared a worried look. "Cas, you okay?"

Cas have a shuddering breath and finally raised his head, eyes wide. "Dean, Sam…I…I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Cas, we know it wasn't you," Sam assured him, but the angel didn't look consoled at all. Cas looked down at his trembling hands and slowly raised them to his head.

"I…I let the nephillim control me. I shouldn't….I shouldn't have let that happen. What I could have done…what I could have done to you…I'm so sorry!"

"Cas," Dean started then just shook his head and simply reached out to pull the angel into a rough embrace. Cas stiffened, his breath catching in his throat, but Dean didn't let go, only holding him tighter. Sam reached out to place a large hand on the back of Cas' neck, squeezing comfortingly, and eventually Cas relaxed into Dean's hold and let out a shuddering breath, one hand rising to loosely clutch at Dean's jacket, anchoring him to reality.

"It's okay, Cas, you don't have to apologize," Dean told him.

"I could have killed you. I almost did!" Cas protested.

"But you didn't," Dean insisted, rubbing Cas' back briskly before pulling back to look him in the eye, gripping his shoulders. "You fought it off. I'm damn proud of you."

Cas just shook his head and Sam shot Dean a look, which Dean agreed with fully.

"You know what, let's get the hell out of here," Dean told him, climbing to his feet where both he and Sam offered Cas a hand. The angel took their offered hands with some reluctance and they hauled him to his feet.

"Come on, let's go home," Sam said, placing a hand on Cas' back to guide him toward the Impala.

Cas said nothing and Dean cast a sideways glance at him, swallowing hard. He knew this was going to take some fixing, but hell, he would do anything he needed to get Cas back on his feet and feeling better about himself. He knew Sam would too. If there was one thing he knew for certain it was that they were not going to let their third brother suffer alone this time, or ever again, if Dean had anything to do with it.

He slid into the driver's seat after making sure Cas was comfortable in back where he usually sat, and took out his keys. "Yeah. Let's go home."

~~~~~~~~

Castiel rested his head against the window of the Impala as they drove along, back to the bunker. He was glad that the Winchesters had been silent for the whole ride, he didn't know what to say, didn't really know what to think about what had happened. He just knew that he had betrayed them again, and he couldn't even blame most of that on the nephillim's control. He'd planned that long before he found Kelly again.

Thinking of Kelly, he wondered vaguely what had happened to her. He thought that perhaps after he had pushed the nephillim's control from his head, the baby had transported Kelly and itself to a safer location. Castiel worried about her, but at the same time, he was really too tired and soul weary to care. He wanted to help her, yes, but he didn't much feel up to helping anyone at the moment. He couldn't even help himself after all. And he wasn't about to help someone by being forced to do their bidding. Never again would he do that.

They pulled into the bunker's garage just as the day was dawning and Castiel startled slightly from his stupor as the Impala's engine cut off, casting them all into complete silence without the comforting rumble that he had come to be rather fond of.

Sam turned around in the seat to look at him. "You look like you could use some coffee, Cas."

"Yeah, I know I could," Dean offered as he got out of the car and Castiel followed suit. "How about I whip up some breakfast?"

He was looking at Castiel as he said it and the angel shrugged non-committedly. Dean's mouth pinched but he didn't say anything. Castiel knew it was only a matter of time before they had to talk about what happened and he both dreaded it, and wanted it to be over with.

They sat in the kitchen and Sam gave him a mug of steaming coffee, which Castiel took gratefully to cradle in his hands as the scent of bacon wafted up from Dean's work at the stove.

"Are you okay, Cas?" Sam asked him gently, looking across the table at him sympathetically. "You're not hurt or anything, are you?"

Castiel shook his head, looking down into the dark drink. "No, Sam, I am fine physically." Not entirely true; he had a splitting headache, but he couldn't tell if that was from the mind control or just his general anxiety right now. Either way, it wasn't life threatening and there was no point in complaining about it.

"Okay, bacon and eggs, coming up," Dean said with false cheeriness as he dished up three plates and put them down on the table. Castiel didn't want to eat, but he knew it would be rude to refuse the food now. Even though the thought of tasting all the molecules made his head hurt more and made him feel slightly queasy.

They ate in silence apart from a few pointless comments, and Castiel's stomach knotted tighter and tighter until he simply couldn't take it anymore. He slammed his fork down on the table and stared across at the two.

"Aren't you going to say something?" he demanded, so angry he was trembling, his hand clenching into a fist on the table. "Stop pretending that nothing happened! That you weren't angry when I ran off, that I tricked you and took the Colt."

Sam and Dean looked at him, both seeming slightly surprised at his outburst and that just angered him more. He didn't really know what he was feeling right now, he just knew that this silence, this avoidance, or whatever it was was only making him feel worse. He stood up with a disgusted grunt and made to leave the room, shaking his head. "The one time I want you to say something, yell at me, anything, you don't. Just…I'll be in my room if you feel like talking."

Castiel spun around before he could see their faces and hurried off down the hallway toward the dormitory wing. He made to swing the door shut as he heard footsteps hurrying behind him and Dean caught the door before he could close it.

"Cas, wait, just wait, man," he pleaded, and Castiel could see the swell of emotions in his eyes too and he sagged, letting the brothers push their way in as he retreated to sink onto the edge of the bed.

"What the hell was that all about?" Dean asked, more incredulous than angry, hands held out pleadingly.

"I can't stand you pretending nothing happened," he gritted out.

"Cas, we weren't doing that," Sam insisted. "We were just giving you some time to figure things out instead of just jumping on you with accusations or questions."

Cas gave a wry, humorless chuckle, running his hands over his face. "I already figured things out. I screwed up. Again. Big surprise."

"Cas, don't say that," Sam said gently, but Castiel cut him off.

"No, I thought that I could do this, that I could finally fix something, but I should have known better, I should have know this would just be another of my huge mistakes."

"Cas, I know you were looking for a win with this one," Dean said, keeping his voice calm. "But, come on, man, you can't blame yourself for this. How many times have we actually succeeded in anything without practically destroying the world, huh? This is not all on you."

"Yes it is!" Castiel shouted, clenching his fists in his lap. "Dean, I thought I was doing the right thing by bringing Kelly to Heaven, but I was going to kill her and her child. What was I even thinking? And then I lied to you, and I stole the Colt and then allowed Dagon to destroy it. Stop trying to make excuses for me; I'm not a child! I don't even know why you bothered to bring me back; you should have just left me to fix my own mistakes."

"Hey! No, I'm not gonna listen to any of that," Dean said firmly. "That is not how we do things in this family, and yeah, Cas, family. You're our brother, you idiot; I don't know how many times I'm gonna have to say that before you actually believe it, but I'll keep doing it anyway. This is our problem, collectively, and yeah, you made some mistakes, but news flash, we all do, we all have. It's nothing new and nothing we won't do again so we may as well just accept it."

Castiel didn't say anything, swallowing hard, looking down at his hands in his lap.

Dean continued. "Cas, I have watched you the last couple years, I have seen all the crap you've gone through, some of it's I've experienced by your side, and some of it I haven't but trust me, I know. I know why you feel like you need to do this. If anyone knows how it feels to need a win so bad you'll do anything for it, it's me. Hell, why do you think I took on the Mark of Cain? Point is, Cas, this isn't just a weight on your shoulders, it's on all of ours. When one of us is in trouble, we all bear that trouble together, we take the weight and we share it because that's what family does. And we have had our rough patches, I know, but we don't need to be defined by those. We can choose to come back stronger. But we are not stronger apart, Cas. You know that."

"And you also need to stop thinking we don't care about you as much as we do each other," Sam added firmly. "Cas, you're my brother just as much as Dean is, and I know he feels the same. We can't lose you, especially not because you think you have to do this alone. I know as well as anyone where that road leads. We all do."

Castiel clenched a hand into his coat, heart aching as he tried to put into words what he felt. "I—I just don't feel like I should deserve this."

"And you think we should?" Dean demanded. "Cas we're all misfits and rebels, and we work together because of that. We're gonna make mistakes, sure, but we always come back to each other and I think that means something. And you know what we can accomplish when we stand together, so come on man, don't try to do this alone. You don't have to."

Castiel took a deep breath, overwhelmed by the gratitude he felt toward Sam and Dean, these humans who had become his brothers over the years he had known them. And yes, as Dean had said, their relationship had been rocky sometimes, but they had always come back stronger, and for some reason he had simply failed to realize that. After all, hadn't he told them as he lay dying from his wound in that barn that they had been the best part of his long life? They were his family, and at the end of the day, he would much rather stand with them, no matter what the consequences were or how bleak the outcome, than push them away. And, even though he hadn't wanted to admit it before, he truly would rather have them at his back in any fight then have to stand and face the enemy alone.

He finally looked up at them and saw some hope return to Sam and Dean's eyes. "You are my family," he said quietly, earnestly. "And…I would rather have you beside me than anywhere else. If…if you truly want to do this together, then I will join you."

Sam grinned and Dean gave a small smile, but Castiel could see how pleased he was from the light in his green eyes. "We definitely want you with us, Cas. No matter what comes, we all need to stick together," Sam told him.

Castiel stood up, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "What do you suggest we do first?"

"First, this," Dean said and pulled him into another hug. This time Castiel returned it, closing his eyes briefly as he allowed himself to relax even more. "And no one mention that we had two chick-flick moments in a twelve hour period," Dean said as he pulled away. But he was smiling as he clapped Castiel on the shoulder.

"You're such an idiot," Sam told his brother as he too pulled Castiel into a warm hug and the final tension left Castiel's body, reassurance taking its place in the knowledge that his family hadn't only forgiven him, but accepted him back after what he had done. He was even more determined to make sure that they worked as a team from now on.

"Now," Dean said, clapping his hands together. "I want to finish my breakfast, and then I think we have some work to do."

"Yes," Castiel nodded and followed his brothers out of the room, a new spring in his step.

They may not be able to find Kelly before the nephillim was born, but at least whatever they did, they would do together, and when Team Free Will stood up against the odds, Castiel knew that anything was possible.

Proving the impossible possible was, after all, what they were best at.


End file.
